UC-NRLF 


EXCHANGE 


Opening 
of  the 

Elizabethan  Club 

of 

Yale  University 

Sixth  of  December,  Nineteen  Hundred  and  Eleven 


Opening 
of  the 

Elizabethan  Club 

of 

Yale  University 

, * 

Sixth  of  December,  Nineteen  Hundred  and  Eleven 


Preprint  from  the  Alumni  Weekly  of  December  8,1911 


The  Elizabethan  Club 

On  Wednesday  evening,  December  6,  the  new  home  of  the 
Elizabethan  Club,  which  is  pictured  above,  was  opened  for 
the  use  of  its  members.  There  were  no  formal  ceremonies, 
but  a  large  majority  of  those  already  elected,  who  live  within 
reach  of  New  Haven,  were  present  to  inspect  the  club  house, 
No.  123  College  Street,  and  to  see  the  first  exhibition  of 
the  rare  volumes,  prints  and  paintings  contained  in  the  club's 
library.  A  public  exhibition  of  the  first  editions  was  held 
in  the  Chittenden  Library  on  Thursday  in  connection  with  the 
New  Haven  meeting  of  the  Connecticut  Library  Association. 
The  general  public  and  undergraduates  were  invited  to  this 
exhibition. 

It  is  not  quite  six  months  since  the  organization  came  into 
possession  of  the  College  Street  property,  and  in  that  time 
extensive  repairs  have  been  made  in  the  house  so  that  it 
may  properly  serve  as  the  home  of  the  association,  which 
differs  in  many  important  respects  from  any  club  or  society 
heretofore  known  at  Yale,  or  indeed  at  any  American  uni- 
versity. The  Elizabethan  Club,  which  was  formed  "to  pro- 
mote in  the  community  a  wider  appreciation  of  literature  and 
of  social  intercourse  founded  upon  such  appreciation,"  is  in 
no  sense  a  part  of  the  traditional  Yale  undergraduate  secret 
society  system.  It  is,  rather,  an  open  club  for  the  use  of  its 
chosen  undergraduate  and  graduate  members,  who  may  or 
may  not  belong  to  existing  societies,  together  with  a  certain 
number  of  Faculty  members,  elected  from  the  teaching  force 
of  Yale  University,  and  a  limited  number  of  honorary  mem- 
bers, among  whom  will  be  included  scholars  occupying  places 
in  the  faculties  of  other  institutions,  as  well  as  private  col- 
lectors and  bibliophiles  of  note  in  this  country  and  abroad. 

—  3  — 


251883 


While  the  membership  of  this  unique  Yale  literary  club 
will  naturally  be  limited,  as  *n  the  case  of  any  such  social 
organization,  it  is  of  i merest  to  note  that  the  members  are 
at  liberty  to  bring  in  guests  at  any  time,  and  the  students 
and  alumni  of  both  the  College  and  the  Scientific  School 
are  eligible  for  election.  As  a  result  of  these  two  provisions 
in  the  regulations  the  Elizabethan  Club  will  be  in  reality  a 
University  organization,  and  its  collections,  library  and  "work 
rooms"  will  be  available  for  all  members  of  the  University 
who  are  interested  in  them.  The  club  house,  situated  on 
College  Street  near  the  corner  of  Wall  Street,  is  ideally  located 
for  the  daily  use  of  members  and  their  friends,  and  it  is 
the  general  expectation  that  it  will  be  largely  used,  not  only 
in  the  afternoon  and  evenings,  but  also  in  the  intervals 
between  recitations. 

The  qualifications  set  for  membership  cannot  be  very  easily 
defined,  but  in  a  general  way  are  those  which  obtain  in  any 
club  formed  for  the  use  of  men  of  discriminating  tastes  and 
appreciations.  It  has  been  suggested  by  some  observers  that 
the  Elizabethan  Club  will  be  a  miniature  combination  of  the 
Century,  the  Grolier  and  the  Players'  clubs  of  New  York. 
Perhaps  this  will  best  indicate  the  desired  character  of  its 
membership.  Under  the  Elizabethan  Club's  standards  the 
mere  fact  that  a  student  has  written  for  any  of  the  under- 
graduate publications,  or  has  become  an  editor  of  one  of  them, 
will  not  entitle  him  to  membership  unless,  with  literary  ability, 
he  possesses  the  rather  undefinable  qualities  of  originality  and 
individuality  which  combine  to  make  a  medium  of  social 
intercourse  of  distinction.  The  selection  of  all  members, 
honorary,  Faculty,  graduate,  or  undergraduate,  is  to  be  in  the 
hands  of  a  committee  on  admissions,  and  elections  will  be 
made  from  time  to  time,  rather  than  at  fixed  intervals.  Not 
more  than  twenty  men  may  be  chosen  from  any  one  Class 
(graduate  or  undergraduate)  in  the  College  or  the  Scientific 
School,  but  undergraduates  may  be  elected  to  membership  in 
Sophomore,  Junior  or  Senior  year. 

—  4  — 


While  enough  has  been  said  perhaps  in  a  general  way  to 
show  the  unique  features  of  this  Yale  institution,  any  article 
dealing  with  the  Elizabethan  Club  would  be  incomplete  with- 
out some  description  at  least  of  its  wonderful  collection  of 
first  editions  and  rare  volumes  of  the  Elizabethan  and  Stuart 
periods;  for  it  is  literally  around  these  that  the  club  has 
been  built.  When  the  idea  of  the  organization  was  first 
broached  by  Alexander  Smith  Cochran,  '96,  who  later  became 
one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  association,  he  announced  his 
desire  to  give  to  the  University  for  the  club's  library  certain 
first  editions  of  Shakespeare  and  of  other  authors  from  his 
own  collections.  To  these  gifts  were  later  added  purchases 
made  by  him  through  the  University  at  the  Hoe  sale  in  New 
York  last  spring,  and  he  has  now  still  further  enriched  the 
club's  library  by  acquiring  for  it,  in  advance  of  the  Huth  sale 
in  London,  the  noteworthy  Shakespeare  items  which  had 
aroused  the  interest  and  enthusiasm  of  collectors  all  over 
the  world.  As  a  result  the  collections  of  "The  Elizabethan 
Club  of  Yale  University"  are  already  of  the  greatest  inter- 
national importance,  and  occupy  the  first  place  in  American 
collections  on  this  subject. 

THE   ELIZABETHAN    CLUB^S    RARE    BOOKS 

Among  the  rare  books  and  first  editions  now  in  the  club's 
library  or  on  their  way  thither,  special  mention  may  be  made 
of  the  early  English  moralities  and  interludes,  all  of  them 
extremely  rare.  The  earliest  is  the  Interlude  manifesting  the 
chief  promises  of  God,  1538,  written  by  Bishop  John  Bale  to 
set  forth  the  Reformed  opinions  and  to  attack  the  Roman 
party.  There  is  no  place  of  publication  or  printer's  name, 
but  it  was  probably  issued  at  Basel  by  Nicholas  of  Bamberg. 
Then  comes  John  Heywood,  the  epigrammatist,  singer  and 
player  on  the  virginals  under  Henry  VIII,  with  his  Play 
called  the  Four  P.  In  this  interlude,  produced  between  1543 
and  1547,  a  Peddler,  a  Pardoner,  a  Palmer,  and  a  Potecary 


try  to  tell  the  greatest  lie,  and  when  the  Palmer  says  he 
never  saw  a  woman  out  of  temper  the  victory  is  awarded 
to  him.  Of  the  History  of  Jacob  and  Esau,  printed  in  1568, 
only  three  other  copies  are  known.  On  the  title  page  are 
"The  Partes  and  names  of  the  Players,  who  are  to  be  con- 
sidered to  be  Hebrews,  and  so  should  be  apparailed  with 
Attire."  John  Phillip's  Patient  and  meek  Grisell,  taken  from 
Boccaccio,  is  one  of  the  very  rarest  pre- Shakespearean  come- 
dies and  is  unknown  to  Halliwell,  Hazlitt,  Collier,  and 
Lowndes.  The  book  was  printed  by  Colwell,  whose  press  ran 
from  1562  to  1571.  The  one  named  Common  Conditions 
(after  the  name  of  the  Vice)  was  licensed  in  1576,  and  its 
rarity  may  be  seen  from  the  statement  of  Carew  Hazlitt  in 
1892,  that  "the  only  copy  known  to  exist  is  now  in  the  col- 
lection of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  and  wants  the  title-page." 
The  Yale  copy  is  complete. 

The  club  has  the  first  edition  (1551)  of  More's  Utopia 
in  English ;  the  first  editions  of  Spenser's  Fairy  Queen,  Com- 
plaints, and  Colin  Clout;  the  extraordinarily  rare  first  edition 
of  Bacon's  Essays  (sold  at  the  Huth  sale  last  month  for 
£1,950)  ;  the  first  complete  edition  of  the  same  work ;  and 
the  first  of  the  Advancement  of  Learning.  In  the  Return 
from  Parnassus,  acted  by  the  students  in  St.  John's  College, 
Cambridge,  in  1602,  there  are  allusions  to  Shakespeare,  and 
quotations  from  his  works.  The  Elizabethan  Club  copy  has 
a  contemporary  bookseller's  advertising  slip  at  the  end  of  the 
prologue,  and  is  probably  unique  in  this  respect.  The  Thomas 
Greene  who  wrote  the  Poefs  Vision  was  a  native  of  Stratford 
and  an  actor  at  the  Red  Bull  Theater,  and  is  supposed  to  have 
been  a  relative  of  Shakespeare  and  to  have  introduced  him 
to  the  stage.  The  work  is  almost  unknown. 

THE  RICH    SHAKESPEARE   COLLECTION 

The  collection  of  Shakespeare  folios  and  quartos  is  a 
most  extraordinary  one,  and  is  undoubtedly  the  finest  in 
America.  It  includes  the  whole  of  the  famous  accumulation 

—6— 


of  Henry  Huth  of  London,  bought  for  the  club  privately  at 
a  cost  of  nearly  $200,000  after  being  announced  for  sale  by 
auction.  Of  the  first  edition  of  Lucrece  only  four  other  per- 
fect copies  are  known ;  the  same  is  true  of  Henry  V.  Of  the 
second  quarto  of  Hamlet,  the  first  edition  of  Richard  III, 
and  the  second  of  Venus  and  Adonis,  only  two  other  copies 
are  known.  For  the  Venus  and  Adonis  one  must  either 
go  to  the  British  Museum  or  the  Bodleian,  or  come  to  Yale. 
Besides  the  genuine  works  of  Shakespeare  this  superb  col- 
lection includes  rare  editions  of  works  formerly  attributed  to 
him,  such  as  the  Contention,  Sir  John  Oldcastle,  The  London 
Prodigal,  The  Puritan,  and  The  Yorkshire  Tragedy. 

OTHER  TUDOR  AND   STUART  RARITIES 

Of  Ben  Jonson  the  club  has  the  first  editions  of  Volpone 
and  the  Entertainment  of  King  James.  It  has  also  the  first 
collected  edition  of  his  works,  a  presentation  copy  from  the 
author  with  his  autograph  inscription.  Of  Jonsonus  Virbius, 
a  collection  of  verses  in  praise  of  Jonson  issued  by  friends 
the  year  after  his  death,  the  club  has  a  fine  copy  entirely 
uncut.  The  large  woodcut  on  the  title  of  Heywopd's  //  you 
know  not  me,  1605-06,  representing  Queen  Elizabeth  en- 
throned, was  used  in  1595  to  portray  "an  upstart  gentle- 
woman" in  Gosson's  Pleasant  Quips.  Middlemen's  Your  five 
Gallants,  1607,  is  probably  the  finest  copy  in  existence;  of  his 
Game  at  chess,  which  was  suppressed,  only  one  other  copy 
is  known.  Campion's  Flowers,  1613,  a  very  fine  copy  with 
edges  entirely  uncut,  has  the  music  to  the  songs  in  the  masque, 
"set  forth  with  words  that  they  may  be  sung  to  the  Lute  or 
Violl."  Barten  Holyday's  rare  Technogamia,  or  The  Mar- 
riage of  the  Arts,  played  before  James  I  at  Woodstock,  gave 
rise  to  this  epigram : 

"At  the    'Marriage  of  the  Arts'    before  the  King, 
Lest  those  brave  mates  should  want  an  offering, 
The  King  himself  did  offer — what,  I  pray? 
He  offer'd  twice  or  thrice — to  go  away. 


Of  Swetnam  the  Woman  hater,  1620,  only  five  other  copies 
are  known.  Of  Massinger's  celebrated  New  way  to  pay  old 
debts  the  club  has  a  beautiful  copy  of  the  first  edition. 
Mabbe's  Spanish  Bawd,  a  translation  of  Calisto,  is  probably 
the  longest  play  ever  written  in  modern  Europe;  it  has 
twenty-one  acts.  The  collection  ends  for  the  present  with 
Milton's  Paradise  Lost  and  Paradise  Regained,  both  in  beau- 
tiful first  editions.  The  Paradise  Lost  is  an  exquisite  speci- 
men of  Riviere's  binding. 

The  club  has  also  a  large  number  of  translations  from  the 
classics,  in  most  cases  the  earliest  into  English.  There  is  the 
Xenophon  of  1534,  made  by  Gentian  Hervet,  tutor  of  Geffery 
Pole,  Reginald's  brother;  Cicero  on  Old  Age,  Englished  by 
Thomas  Newton  in  1569;  Thomas  Wilson's  Demosthenes  of 
1570;  Appian's  History,  1578;  Newton's  Seneca  of  1581; 
Phaer  and  Twyne's  Vergil  of  1583;  Kyffin's  Terence  of  1588; 
Chapman's  Homer  of  1598;  Holland's  Livy  of  1600,  Pliny 
of  1601,  and  Plutarch  of  1603;  Greneway's  Tacitus  of  1604; 
Golding's  Ovid  of  1612;  North's  Plutarch  of  the  same  year; 
Lodge's  Seneca  of  1614;  Ben  Jonson's  Horace  of  1640; 
Appians  History  of  1679 ;  and  many  others.  Charles  Blount's 
translation  of  Philostratus,  1680,  was  published  with  the  design 
of  invalidating  the  testimony  of  the  evangelists  concerning 
miracles,  and  only  a  few  copies  were  dispersed  before  the 
work  was  suppressed. 

Some  of  the  early  editions  in  the  club  are  in  the  original 
bindings,  but  most  of  them  have  been  suitably  rebound  by 
famous  binders.  Many  of  the  volumes  have  bookplates  and 
annotations  of  interest  to  bibliophiles. 

A  list  of  the  rare  books  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Eliza- 
bethan Club  follows: 

—  8  — 


FIRST    AND    OTHER    RARE    EDITIONS    IN    THE    CLUB    LIBRARY 

Appian.     History  of  the  Roman  wars.     1578 

History,  tr.  by  J.  Davies.     1679 
Appius  and  Virginia,  by  R.  B.     1575 

Arrian.     Alexander's  expedition,  tr.  by  John  Rooke.     1729 
Bacon,   Francis.     Advancement  of  learning.      1605 
Essays.     1 597 

Essays.     First  complete  edition.     1625 
Bale,  J.     Chief  promises  of  God.     1538 
Barnes,  B.     The  devil's  charter.      1607 
Beaumont  and  Fletcher.     Comedies  &  Tragedies.     1647 
Campion,  T.     Flowers.     1614 
Carew,   E.     Mariam.      1613 
Carew,  T.     Coelum  Britannicum.     1634 
Carlell,  L.     Heraclius.     1664 

Cartwright,  W.  The  royal  slave.  Oxford.  1639 
Chamberlain,  R.  The  swaggering  damsel.  1640 
Chapman,  G.  Caesar  and  Pompey.  1631 

Chabot,  Admiral  of  France.     1639 
The  conspiracy  and  tragedy  of  Byron.      1608 
Eastward  Ho.     1605 
The  gentleman  usher.      1606 
May-day.     1611 
"      The  widow's  tears.     1612 
Chettle,  H.     Hoffman.     1631 
Cicero.     Old  Age,  tr.  by  T.  Newton.     1569 
Common  conditions.     [?i576] 

Contention  between  the  two  famous  houses,  Lancaster  and  York.     1619 
Courtier's  calling.     1675 
Davenant,  Sir  W.     The  cruel  brother.     1630 

The  platonic  lovers.     1636 

Davenport,  R.     New  trick  to  cheat  the  devil.     1639 
Day,  J.     Blind  beggar  of  Bednal  Green.     1659 

"      "      Isle  of  Gulls.     1633 
Declaration  of  Lords  &  Commons,  and  ordinances  for  suppressing  stage 

plays.     1642 
Dekker,  T.     Westward  Ho.     1607 

Whore  of  Babylon,     1607 

Demosthenes.  Orations,  tr.  by  T.  Wilson.  1570 
Fair  Em.  1631 

Fletcher,  J.     The  bloody  brother.      1639 
The  elder  brother.     1637 
Monsieur  Thomas.     1639 
The  night  walker.      1640 
Rule  a  wife  and  have  a  wife.     1640 
Thierry,  king  of  France.     1621 
Two  noble  kinsmen.     1634 
"         "    The  woman-hater.     1607 

—  9  — 


Fletcher,  P.     Sicelides  a  Piscatory.     1631 
Ford,  J.     Fancies  chaste  and  noble.      1638 

The  lover's  melancholy,  etc.     1629 
Perkin  Warbeck.      1634 
The  sun's  darling.     [1656?] 
'Tis  pity  she's  a  whore.     1633 
Fulwell,  U.     Like  will  to  like.     1587 
Gascoigne,  G.     The  glass  of  government.     1575 
Gellius,  A.     The  Attic  nights,  tr.  by  W.  Beloe.     3  v.     1795 
Greene,  T.     A  poet's  vision.     1603 
Harrington,  Sir  J.     Epigrams.      1615 
Herrick,  R.     Hesperides.     1648 
Hey  wood,  J.     Four  P.     [?i543] 
Hey  wood,  T.     An  apology  for  actors.     1612 

The  English  traveller.     1633 

The  golden  age.     1611 

If  you  know  not  me,  you  know  nobody.     1605-06 

Pleasant  dialogues  and  dramas.     1637 
Holyday,  B.     Technogamia.     1618 
Homer.     Iliad,  tr.  by  G.  Chapman.     1598 
Horace.     Art  of  poetry,  Englished  by  Ben  Jonson.     1640 
Ingelend,  T.     The  disobedient  child.     [?is6o] 
Jacob  and  Esau.     1568 
Jonson,  B.      Entertainment  of  King  James.     1604 

Volpone.     1607 
"      Works.     1616-40 

Jonsonus  Virbius,  or  the  memory  of  Ben  Jonson  revived.     1638 
King  and  Queen's  entertainment  at  Richmond.     1636 
Knave  in  grain  new  vamped.     1640 
Livy.     Roman  history,  tr.  by  P.  Holland.     1600 
London  Prodigal.     1605 

Longinus.     The  sublime,  tr.  by  W.  Smith.     1743 
Lyly,  J.     Endimion.     1591 

Sapho  and  Phao.     1591 
Mabbe,  J.     The  Spanish  bawd.     1631 
Marlowe,  C.     Hero  and  Leander.     1622 
Marmion,  S.     The  antiquary.     1641 
Marston,  J.     What  you  will.     1607 
Massinger,  P.     The  emperor  of  the  East.     1632 

The  fatal  dowry.     1632 

The  great  duke  of  Florence.     1636 

The  maid  of  honor.     1632 

A  new  way  to  pay  old  debts.     1633 

The  picture.     1630 

The  renegado.     1630 

The  unnatural  combat.     1639 
Middleton,  T.     A  game  at  chess.     1625 
Michaelmas  term.     1607 
"      No  wit,  no  help,  like  a  woman's.     1657 


Middleton.  T.     Two  new  plays.     1657 

Your  five  gallants.     1667 
Milton,  J.     Paradise  lost.     1667 

Paradise  regained  &  Samson  Agonistes.     1671 
More,  Sir  T.     Utopia.     1551 
Nabbes,  T.     Microcosmus.     1637 
New  custom.     1573 

Ovid.     Metamorphoses,  tr.  by  A.  Golding.     1612 
Pathomachia.     1630 

Paynell,  T.     The  conspiracy  of  Catiline,  2  y.     1557 
Peele,  G.     The  love  of  King  David  and  Fair  Bethsabe.     1599 
Phillip,  J.     Patient  and  meek  Grisel.      [?is65] 
Philostratus.     Life  of  Apollonius,  tr.  by  C.  Blount.     1680 
Plafcus.     Comedies,  tr.  by  B.  Thornton.     5  v.     1769-74 
Pliny.     History  of  the  world,  tr.  by  P.  Holland.     2  v.      1601 
Pliny  the  younger.     Letters,  tr.  by  John,  Earl  of  Orley.     2  v.     1751 
Plutarch.     Lives,  tr.  by  T.  North.     2  v.     1610-12 

Morals,  tr.  by  P.  Holland.     1603 
The  Puritan.     1607 

Queen's  Majesty's  passage  through     London.     1558 
Randolph,  T.     Poems.     Oxford.     1638 
Return  from  Parnassus.     1606 
Rowley,  S.     The  noble  soldier.     1634 
Rowley,  W.     A  new  wonder,  a  woman  never  vexed.     1632 

"       The  witch  of  Edmonton.      1658 
Seneca.     Tragedies,  tr.  by  T.  Newton.     1581 

Works,  tr.  by  T.  Lodge.      1614 

Shakespeare.     Comedies,  histories,  and  tragedies.     First  folio.     1623 
2d  folio.     1632 
3d  folio,      ist  issue.     1663 
3d  folio.     2d  issue.     1664 
4th  folio.      1685 
Hamlet.     2d  ed.     1604 
4th  ed.     1611 
[?i636-7] 

Henry  IV.     Part  i.     2d  ed.     1599 
4th  ed.     1613 
"        sth  ed.     1613 
Henry  IV.     Part  2.     ist  ed.     1600 
Henry  V.     ist  ed.     1600 
3d  ed.     1608 

Julius  Caesar,     ist  quarto.     1680 
King  Lear.     2d  ed.     1608 
Lucrece.     ist  ed.     1594 
Merchant  of  Venice,     ist  ed.     1600 
2d  ed.     1600 

Merry  Wives  of  Windsor.     2d  ed.     1619 
Midsummer  night's  dream,     ist  ed.     1600 
2d  ed.     1600 

—  II — 


Shakespeare.     Much    ado    about   nothing,     ist    ed.     1608 
Othello,     ist  ed.     1622 

2d  quarto.      1630 
Pericles,     ist  ed.     1609 
3d  ed.      1619 
Poems.      1640 
Richard  II.     3d  ed.     1608 
Richard  III.      ist  ed.      1597 
Romeo  and  Juliet.     2d  ed.      1599 
[?i63o] 
1637 

Sonnets,     ist  ed.     1609 
Taming  of  the   shrew,      ist  quarto.      1631 
Titus  Andronicus.     2d  known  ed.      1611 
Troilus  and  Cressida.     ist  ed.     1609 
Venus   and    Adonis.     2d   ed.      1594 
Shirley,  J.     The  ball.     1639 

The  constant  maid.     1640 
The  coronation.      1640 
The  duke's  mistress.      1638 
The  gamester.      1637 
The  gentleman  of  Venice.      1655 
The  humorous  courtier.     1640 
The  politician.     1655 
The  royal  master.     1638 
St.  Patrick  for  Ireland.      1640 
The  triumph  of  peace.     1633 
The  witty  fair  one.      1633 
Sir  Giles  Goosecap.     1606 
Sir  John  Oldcastle.     1600. 
Spenser,  E.     Colin  Clout's  come  home  again.      1595 

Complaints.     1591 
"  "      Fairy  Queen.      1590-96 

Suckling,  Sir  J.     The  discontented  colonel.      [?i64o] 

Fragmenta  aurea.      1646 
Swetnam  the  woman-hater.      1620 
Tacitus.     Annals,  tr.  by  R.  Grenewey.      1604 
Terence.     Andria,  tr.  by  M.   Kyffin.      1588 
Theocritus.     Idylliums,   tr.    by   F.    Fawkes.      1767 
Thomas,  Lord  Cromwell.     2d  ed.      1613 
Tourneur,  C.     The  atheist's  tragedy.     1611 
Troublesome  reign  of  King  John.     3d  ed.      1622 
Tyrius  Maximus.     Dissertations,  tr.  by  T.  Taylor.     2  v.     1804 
Valiant  Scot.     1637 
Vergil.     yEneid,  tr.  by  Phaer  &  Twyne.      1583 

The  Bucolics,  tr.  by  A.  F.     1589 
Wapull,  G.     The  tide  tarrieth  no  man.      1576 
Webster,  J.     Appius  &  Virginia.     1654 


—  12  — 


Webster,  J.     The  devil's  law -case.     1623 

Woodes,  N.     The  conflict  of  conscience.     1581 

Xenophon.     Treatise  of  Household,  tr.   by  G.   Hervet.     1534 

Yorkshire  Tragedy,     ad  ed.     1619 

Youth.     The  Interlude  of  Youth.     [?i555] 

THE  ELIZABETHAN  CLUB  PICTURES 

The  pictures  in  the  club  form  a  remarkable  collection. 
There  are  two  paintings,  one  a  panel  of  Elizabeth,  and  the 
other  the  third  and  last  of  the  known  portraits  of  Yale's 
famous  patron,  a  reproduction  of  which,  as  it  hung  in  an 
English  country  house  before  it  was  purchased  for  the  club, 
is  given  herewith.  His  son  stands  near  him,  and  in  the 
background  is  a  view  of  Fort  St.  George,  with  a  ship  firing 
a  salute  in  honor  of  the  governor.  Besides  the  paintings  the 
club  possesses  thirty-one  engravings,  some  of  them  executed 
at  the  earliest  period  of  engraving  on  metal  in  England.  Some 
of  the  prints  are  proofs,  and  all  are  brilliant  impressions. 
Most  of  the  line  engravings  are  of  course  etchings  on  copper 
or  steel,  but  one  is  from  a  silver  plate,  and  there  are  several 
velvety  mezzotints.  A  list  of  the  pictures  on  the  walls  of 
the  club  follows : 

PAINTINGS 

Elihu  Yale  and   his  son.     Third  known  portrait 
Queen   Elizabeth.     Panel 

ENGRAVINGS 

Boccaccio,  after  Titian  by  Cornelius  Van  Dalen 

Columbus,  by  de  Passe 

Vespucci,  by  de  Passe 

Erasmus,  by  Jerome  Hopfer 

Erasmus,  after  Holbein  by  Cornelius  Koning 

Henry  VIII,  by  Cornelius  Metsys.     1544 

Edward  VI,  by  Crispin  de  Passe.     1613 

Mary  I,  by  Franz  Hogenberg.      1555 

Elizabeth,  by  Crispin  de  Passe 

Elizabeth,  after  Isaac  Oliver,  by  Crispin  de  Passe 

Robert  Dudley,  Earl  of  Leicester.     Silver  plate 

Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  by  Simon  de  Passe 

Sir   Francis   Drake,    c.     1583.     Engraver  unknown. 

—  13  — 


Thomas  Cavendish,   by  de  Passe 

Sir  John  Harrington,  by  Reginald  Elstracke 

Sir  Francis  Bacon.     After  1626. 

Sir  Francis   Bacon,  by  Jacobus  Houbraken 

Robert,  Earl  of  Essex,  after  Bromley  by  Robert  Boissard 

Shakespeare,   by  Jacobus   Houbraken.     1743 

James  I,  by  Pieter  de  Jode 

Ben  Jonson,  by  Jacobus  Houbraken 


Captain  John  Smith,  by  Simon  de  Passe 
Charles  I,  by  Wenceslaus  Hollar.  1649 
Samuel  Pepys,  after  Sir  Godfrey  Kneller  by  Robert  White 


Cecil,  Lord  Baltimore,  by  Abraham   Blooteling 

William  Pitt,  after  S.  de  Doster  by  George  Keating 

Edmund  Burke,  after  Romney  by  John  Jones 

George  Washington,  after  Stuart,  probably  by  Geo.  Graham.     1801 

Charles,  Marquis  Cornwallis,  after  Sir  Wm.   Beechey  by  James  Ward 

Charles  James  Fox,  after  Opie  by  Samuel  Wm.  Reynolds 

Lord  Nelson,  after  L.  F.  Abbot  by  Richard  Earlom 

The  collections  of  the  club  will  be  under  the  direct  charge 
of  Mr.  Andrew  Keogh,  Reference  Librarian  of  the  University 
Library,  who  has  been  made  Librarian  of  the  Elizabethan 
Club.  The  other  officers  of  the  organization  for  this  college 
year  are:  President,  Prof.  William  Lyon  Phelps,  '87;  Vice 
President,  Prof.  Frederick  Wells  Williams,  '79;  Secretary, 
Julian  Cornell  Biddle,  '12;  Treasurer,  Hewette  Elwell  Joyce, 
'12.  No  public  announcement  of  the  membership  of  the 
club  has  as  yet  been  made,  as  the  list  is,  of  necessity,  incom- 
plete at  this  time. 


[Editorial  in  the  Yale  Alumni  Weekly] 

THE  The  library  of  any  club  is  of  much  importance, 

ELIZABETHAN  and  that  of  the  new  Elizabethan  Club  at  Yale 
CLUB  LIBRARY  has  received  extraordinary  attention  from  the 
founder.  Just  as  Yale  herself  started  as  a 
collection  of  books,  so  this  club  is  built  around  its  books  as 
a  nucleus.  The  Elizabethan  Club  library  is  one  of  great 
richness,  standing  probably  at  the  head  of  collections  of  its 
kind  in  this  country.  It  includes  the  principal  works,  largely 
in  priceless  first  editions,  of  the  most  important  writers  of 
the  Elizabethan,  Jacobean,  and  Caroline  periods,  and  is  par- 
ticularly strong  in  drama  and  in  translation.  To  enumerate 
the  authors  included  would  be  to  list  all  the  great  names  in 
the  magnificent  literature  of  the  late  Tudor  and  early  Stuart 
epoch.  The  collection  of  Shakespeare  folios  and  quartos  is 
undoubtedly  the  finest  in  America,  as  it  includes  the  whole 
of  the  remarkable  collection  made  by  Henry  Huth  of  London, 
and  bought  by  private  treaty  after  it  had  been  announced  for 
sale  by  auction.  Most  of  these  Huth  books  are  extremely 
rare,  for  of  some  of  them  only  two  or  three  other  copies  are 
known,  and  these  are  already  in  public  collections.  To  the 
scholar  at  Yale  such  a  collection  of  first  editions  is  a  god- 
send, for  no  editorial  work  of  value  can  be  done  without 
an  examination  of  the  earliest  edition  of  a  work.  The  higher 
criticism  often  depends  upon  the  lower,  and  the  determination 
of  an  author's  meaning  can  at  times  be  settled  only  by  a 
scrutiny  of  the  spelling,  capitalization,  or  punctuation  of  the 
edition  for  which  the  author  himself  or  his  original  repre- 
sentative was  directly  responsible.  But  this  documentary 
value  of  the  collection  is  not  its  chief  interest;  the  letter  is 
often  far  less  than  the  spirit,  and  the  members  of  this  club 
—  15  — 


are  not  pedants  or  textual  critics,  interested  mainly  in  the 
analysis  and  annotation  of  an  early  text,  but,  primarily,  lovers 
of  books,  with  a  feeling  for  good  literature  and  a  taste  for  a 
fine  book  in  a  fine  binding.  To  such  a  membership  the 
library  will  make  a  strong  appeal,  for  there  is  nothing  worth- 
less or  common  in  the  collection,  and  nothing  merely  curious ; 
that  is,  the  authors  and  works  included  possess  the  highest 
literary  value  and  do  not  depend  for  their  interest  upon 
antiquarian  value  merely.  Besides  the  collection  of  first 
editions  the  library  contains  a  choice  selection  of  standard 
reprints  and  translations,  in  keeping  with  the  object  of  the 
club.  A  score  of  rare  prints  of  Elizabethan  worthies  adorns 
the  club  walls,  and  the  last  of  the  contemporary  portraits  of 
Elihu  Yale  caps  the  climax  of  art  rarities  of  this  new  and 
unique  Yale  organization.  The  best  description  of  the  library 
treasures  of  the  club  is  a  list  of  the  books  contained  in  the 
collection.  This  list  appears  on  another  page  of  this  issue. 


—  16  - 


• 


t 


1 


251883 


9/12 


